Begetting
What Does It Mean to Create a Child?
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- 29,99 €
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- 29,99 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
An investigation of what it means to have children—morally, philosophically and emotionally
“Do you want to have children?” is a question we routinely ask each other. But what does it mean to create a child? Is this decision always justified? Does anyone really have the moral right to create another person? In Begetting, Mara van der Lugt attempts to fill in the moral background of procreation. Drawing on both philosophy and popular culture, van der Lugt does not provide a definitive answer on the morality of having a child; instead, she helps us find the right questions to ask.
Most of the time, when we talk about whether to have children, what we are really talking about is whether we want to have children. Van der Lugt shows why this is not enough. To consider having children, she argues, is to interrogate our own responsibility and commitments, morally and philosophically and also personally. What does it mean to bring a new creature into the world, to decide to perform an act of creation? What does it mean to make the decision that life is worth living on behalf of a person who cannot be consulted? These questions are part of a conversation we should have started long ago. Van der Lugt does not ignore the problematic aspects of procreation—ethical, environmental and otherwise. But she also acknowledges the depth and complexity of the intensely human desire to have a child of our own blood and our own making.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this eye-opening treatise, philosopher van der Lugt (Dark Matters) challenges received wisdom about having children, a life milestone she notes has only in relatively recent history become a choice. Overviewing cultural procreation "narratives," the author interrogates and mostly dismisses notions that having kids marks a moral "coming of age" or is an inherent act of virtue. In the process, she draws on a colorful mix of philosophical and cultural references, noting, for example, that the "romantic" notion that "any parent will be a good parent, by the mere fact of parenthood" is dismissed by reluctant father Toby from The West Wing, who warns that "it's not automatic." Exactly where van der Lugt lands on the question of whether to have children is less clear; while she claims not to fully agree with anti-natalists like David Benatar and considers "better reasons" to procreate such as passing on one's values, those analyses tend to lack the passion of her critiques. Still, her assertion that having a child "should fill us with awe and trepidation, with infinite caution" rings true. The author's contagious intellectual curiosity—and willingness to make room for unanswered questions—will keep readers glued to the page. It's an ambitious look at some of life's most foundational questions.